A Life to Call Their Own
by Haru's Doppelganger
Summary: Read A Changed Demon first; sequel in the Light Chronicles. Jin and Touya are now free of the restrictive Shinobi clan, moving out into the Makai to find a life for themselves, but the mercy of the wind master may end their dreams of living in the light.
1. These Scars are My Badges

These Scars Are My Badges

Never in all his years existing in the expansive Makai, had the wind master seen such white and fluffy clouds hovering in the heavens before. They looked like a hybrid of rabbit's tails and handfuls of freshly picked cotton, as white and spotless as a pristine wedding kimono. Jin found it hard to believe that they were really made of water and not from those dry wisps on the tops of dying dandelion weeds. Not one tuft upon any of the clouds was marred with a splotch of gray or darkness. The backdrop of the sky looked like the clearest of ocean reefs and the clouds made it appear even bluer by comparison. The rolling sun was to the setting side of its noonday position, around two thirty, and thus Jin did not have to squint his own blue eyes in the slightest in order to watch the clouds above pass over his prostrate form. He then closed the windows to his soul and took a deep uplifting breath, consequently raising the infant girl that lay upon his chest upward, holding the inhalation a bit before releasing it once more into the air.

'Mmmmm...feel that breeze comin' in. It's like a beautiful wind nymph is breathin' down upon us from some distant cloud...faith and beggora! Such a beautiful day, with even better company...I almost feel undeservin' of it! Maybe later I can convince Touya to let me take him and Einin on up for a jaunt, cause oi does he ever hafta get o'er that anxious feelin' towards flyin' if he wants to keep on toleratin' me! He he he...'

"Would ya' like that angel?" He asked the squirming infant as he picked Einin up to hold her above his chest, looking down at him with the most curious of expressions. "Aw, ya' know you'd love to go for a wee fly with me eh? I'd let ya' touch those clouds rather than look at them! Then ya' really would be an angel flying o'er the lands spreadin' that light o' yours...err, though minus the wings o' course!" Jin smiled warmly as Einin responded with a happy chirp of a coo and he lowered her down to nuzzle her face, making her babble happily.

"OW! Damn..." Jin's blissful playtime with his "little bird" was interrupted by a rather loud exclamation causing him to turn his head slightly to the right side and call out to his best friend.

"Ya' alright Touya? Or do ya' need any help getting' disentangled from that there bugger of a task?" Jin asked jokingly, knowing perfectly well why Touya had yelled and cursed. He giggled to himself before returning his gaze to the sky, at the same time tickling the tiny foot of the little babe, after laying her back on his sternum to look at the clouds in delight. She murmured slightly after hearing Touya's angry voice and Jin swooped his eyes down to his chest to see her squirm in discomfort, as if knowing from whom the voice came and that it was not a happy one.

"Aww...no worries me darlin'! Uncle Touya just needs to take a little teensy break from his work...yes he does, yes he does!" Jin assured, switching into baby talk to make the infant smile again.

"You know darn well I could have had an 'teensy break' when I asked for your help three hours ago! And I know for a fact that it does not take that long to give Hikari a bath!" Touya yelled right back over the line of bushes that hid Jin and Hikari from his line of sight. Not hearing any cohesive response, save for some well-placed Gaelic mumbling, the frustrated ice demon sighed and turned his back to the bushes to look in contempt at his finger wrenching work.

'One would think Jin could at least give me a hand with sewing all of these patches of cloth together and mending HIS cloak after it was torn apart. Gods he probably has not even put Hikari into the water yet!' Touya thought to himself with a little frustration mark sitting atop his brow.

Touya was sitting upon the green blades of grass in a small clearing, with an array of different kinds of cloth and thread laid out before his cross-legged lap. He looked at his injured, pinpricked finger for a moment and watched as another little pebble of blood poked its way out of his digit. Touya promptly put it into his mouth to stop the bleeding before he got any of the red stain on the clothes he was making for Hikari.

Not being one accustomed to making his own attire from scratch, the ice demon was having a bit of trouble with his needlework and never failed to prick himself after only four or five stitches. Needless to say he was not making much progress save for the one garment he had finished sewing for Hikari, which she was now wearing, out of his own Shinobi cloak. He felt they no longer needed two heavy cloaks since the group would not get cold traveling in the direction they were going, so Touya had decided that disassembling his own to make something sturdy and warm for Hikari was the most practical alternative to just leaving it behind. The one thing he had forgotten to purchase on the way to the lakeshore was a thimble to protect his finger. But despite the troublesome pokes on the same digit over and over again, Touya continued to mend together patches of cloth, making what appeared to be a very small shirt.

It had been six days since Jin and Touya had left the Shinobi lands once and for all, leaving a rather large hole in the earth where the head quarters used to be...hopefully no one of importance would notice it, like a visiting sect leader from another section of the Makai.

After the demon pair had rifled through their own living quarter in the cave system, or what was left of the chambers, gathering what few assets they together possessed, they began on their trek down into the Southern portion of the Makai. Touya had felt that it would be best to move away from the North, where the closest of the other Shinobi sects lay, with its own members and sets of values. The ice demon knew that they needed to give themselves a longer head start at escaping without incident...Jin had whole heartedly agreed, not eager to face an opponent and risk putting his "little bird" in harm's way again.

On the way to their present campsite, the demon partners, using Touya's remaining sums of salary, had purchased numerous supplies in one small town to keep them moving without any possibly...noticeable stops in any more populated areas. Jin often had the tendency to...draw attention, but Touya felt that with Einin in their care the wind master would refrain from going to any of the frequented pubs or even touching a drop of Makai whiskey; he was more responsible than most other persons gave him credit for. However, on a sour note, the ice demon had noted that Jin never seemed to know where his own coin pouch had gotten off to and Touya hoped he was planning on paying him back for all of the times the bill had been covered for the both of them.

Despite Jin's "lack" of funds there was now food for the three of them, milk for Einin, some scraps of cloth, and sewing supplies. They had planned on stopping by the lake for a total of three days after such a long initial hike, for a well-deserved rest. The weather in the south was considerably drier and warmer in comparison to the north and west; though this heat did not sit well with Touya's over all feeling of comfort, it certainly sat better with him than having Hikari become sick from the bitter cold that the Northern or Western portions of the Makai would bring. While Jin had given up his...well, independent itinerary, of going out for little jaunts into the villages, Touya had given up living in the element he was most suited for. And as far as the two demons were concerned, this alternative life together with Einin was worth a few petty discomforts. Speaking of which...

"OW! Not again! Why can't they just make clothes into one seamless garment?!" Touya cried before he put his finger back into his mouth and waited until the coppery taste dissipated. He then withdrew his finger and sighed, wiping his right hand across his perspiring brow before growling, exasperated at the discomfort of the rather hot weather...well, it seemed hot from the ice demon's perspective. Touya put his needlework to ground and nearly ripped off his most outer top, with the mesh sleeves, and tossed it into the pile of their supplies just under the tree to his right. The ice demon then calmed as he felt a small breeze go through his remaining, thin tunic and over his skin. 'Much better...maybe I should just take a nap and rela...'

"Touya? Ya' okay o'er there? I don'a wanna find that my only traveling partner who can hold a conversation, at least as of yet, is a demon pin cushion!" Jin yelled over the bushes teasingly, knowing that Touya needed to take a break from his toils and hoped that this would bring him over to the lake away from his time consuming task.

"Jin, if you had helped me I would have been done by now...then at least we _both_ would have been pin-cushions..." Touya said with half a smirk on his face as he leaned back on his arms to face the canopy of leaves.

"Not so! I'll have ya' know that me own mother was quite handy with a stitch or two and I was quite handy myself when she needed my help...besides why didn't we buy a thimble back at that town we passed in order to get here?" he asked quite innocently. Touya grumbled slightly before responding.

"WE did not buy a thimble because I have spent almost all of MY funds...you daft ELF! Arrggg, and you don't seem to have any money otherwise I am sure you would have offered it...(sigh) have you even started bathing her yet?" Touya asked with a sweat drop.

"...........yes," Jin responded as he sat up, repositioning Einin with his back to the ice demon and the line of bushes.

"Why did it take you so long to think about it?" Touya questioned, afraid of the response. 'I just keep setting my self up don't I?'

"Well...all depends on your definition of the word 'bath' I suppose...she's been in the water plenty, if that's what ya' be meanin'..." Touya then sighed, his eyes still closed as if he did not want to see what Jin meant, and stood up from his comfortable position on the soft grass.

"Jin a bath means you use SOAP in order to clean all of that dirt off of her...so did you use soap?" Touya asked. After a long silence from the wind master the ice demon sighed again and he began walking to the small lakeside where Jin was supposed to be cleaning Einin, and stepped through the line of tall bushes that separated the campsite from the shore.

"Are you telling me you did not use the soap I spent all of that money on because it was the only place that sold it in the village we passed?! Jin I paid a good chunk of my remaining funds for soap that was not made from the oily skin of some rodent, or other disgusting creature, and you haven't even begun to..." the ice demon stopped at the edge of the lake when his foot hit something soft. He opened his eyes looking downward to find a pile of clothes...the smaller of the garments in the pile he knew were the ones he had sewn for Einin, but the others....

Touya then heard a little nervous snicker come from the water and when his eyes met Jin's form, the ice demon promptly fell over anime style.

Jin now faced the ice demon and was in naught but his most inner trousers, which only came down to his thighs, and was sitting on the lake bottom up to his chest in the water. Einin was no better when it came to apparel and simply wore her lower garments. It would seem that Jin had joined Einin in the water for a very prolonged soap-less bath, lasting for about three hours; one could tell they had been in the water for so long by how prune like the pair of demons appeared. Touya just looked astonished, and he could not decide which made him want to turn around and go to sleep more: the fact that Jin was taking a bath while the ice demon worked his fingers till they bled _or_ the fact that the expensive, soap free of rodent skin still lay in its wrapping on the shore.

"Aw, come on Touya don't use the no-nonsense face like that and be a stick in the mud...join us! It's great fun to look up at the sky like this with all o' those pretty clouds! I tell ya' I was not a few minutes ago floatin' on me back here with Einin on me chest and we were just watching the sky! If ya' look real hard and all ya' can make the clouds into shapes! If ya' join us ya' may see...ummmmmm, a cloud that looks like a snowball!" Touya's face grimaced at the idiocy of this last statement. "Come on, take a break for gods' sakes," Jin said ginning as he began to come out of the water holding Einin up to his shoulder, with her facing his back.

Touya was about to say that HE had to finish mending and sewing so that Einin would have things to wear, because it would be irresponsible of them, as her caregivers, to leave her open to the elements when they had the means to clothe her little shout out to a reviewer . At least...Touya _was_ going to list off those points of argument before he saw Jin turn his back to the ice demon, crouch down, and pat the water with his free right hand.

"Come on ya' silly pixie! He he he...I know better than anyone that ya' probably want to get in the water in this parched heat...ya' may be an ice demon but that don't mean ya' can deal with the hot weather like the rest o' us can, ya' know?" Jin finished with a big smile and he continued to swish his hand through the water invitingly. When he heard no reply he turned his head to the side to view a silent Touya. He then stood up erect with a questioning look on his face, because the ice demon was now biting his lip almost...ashamed. Jin was utterly confounded by the message Touya's countenance was sending him. 'Is he hungry or somethin'? Why is he bitin' his lip like that?' After a moment's thought and tracing the line of sight to what Touya was looking at, it hit Jin right on his horn...Touya was gazing quite intently at the wind master's back.

After the plummet through the ravine in the Shinobi lands, and the necessary action Jin took to keep the trio from crashing into the rock face, Jin's back had retained a mesh like web of pink scars, extending from his lower back right up to the base of his neck. As Touya had predicted, an infection formed after so much dirt and moisture from the ground had gotten into the wounds, and due to this the skin did not heal back together in a smooth manner, but rather was bumpy and did not look entirely like actual skin.

His broken nose and the other wounds from his fight with Reisho had healed quite nicely, but after days of his friend trying to make Jin's back look the way it used to, the wind master knew that though the injury was quite free from any further infection...the skin itself was as healed as it was ever going to be; and all things considering, it looked exactly as it should have...like it had been dragged for miles across a bed of rusty nails. This sight apparently did not sit well with the ice demon, and had not since he first saw that his treatment had done little to help the scars recede. Despite Jin's assurances that he was fine, Touya still felt pangs of shame when he looked upon the wind master's scars.

"Touya..." Jin called as he turned to directly face his comrade. Touya looked up into Jin's eyes as the wind master walked closer to where he stood, still holding Einin snuggly as she cooed and squirmed as infants are wont to do. "Look me friend...it's not your fault that I have these, and they don'a hurt at all thanks to your medical talents and treatment...che, did ya' think I could have healed these half as good without your help?!" Jin grinned trying to make the ice demon crack his own small grin at being complimented, but Touya looked unconvinced.

"You do not at all mind that your back looks...that way? Or that my carelessness..." Touya was interrupted when Jin came right in front of him and leaned down to be eye to eye with his partner, his face serious but still gentle.

"Mind? Why would I mind?" Jin asked shifting Einin into a cradled position in his arms. "How could I mind...when I earned these scars protecting the very demons who've made me life as bright as it is?" Touya's eyebrows rose and his mouth gaped slightly before Jin decided to continue. "You may look at my back and see the result of an obsessive demon's revenge...but I bear these scars with the pride and honor that the act of obtaining them was inspired by. Their not even scars Touya..." Jin paused, handing Einin into Touya's smaller arms, before standing up erect with the same gentle look on his face. "They're my badges, medals...whatever ya' want to call 'em, they are symbols of a worthy deed...I do not have many of those to look back on and feel pride for accomplishing; and in all honesty, I'd rather have them on me back so that you both can see, and know everyday, what I am willin' to do for ya'." Jin finished, smiling at his shorter partner.

"I was still careless with myself...and with Hikari for gods sakes! If you had not reacted to my gross mistake then we could have died and if I had been more alert then..." Touya stopped as an index finger and thumb came up from under his chin to smoosh his cheeks into a lip puckering expression, making Einin squeal in delight at the only funny face Touya had ever made in front of her. Jin leaned down once more to look Touya right in the eye still squishing the ice demon's face.

"If this...If that...What if's and could have's...all piffle an' blarney rolled into a big ball o' nothin'! I could say a few what if's of me own...what if I had paid more attention to Reisho when he was lyin' there nearly dead...what if I had killed him sooner instead of dawdlin' to hear what he had to say...what if I had been faster at getting' to the both of ya' as ya' fell to your deaths?! None of this speculatin' changes a thing and it only makes ya' feel worse about what happened...we all could have done something different to keep bad things from happenin' to us, but if ya' keep your mind stuck in what ya' could've done in the past then ya'll never be ready to deal with the stuff that faces you in the future," Jin said his voice softening as he saw Touya's eyes still held a hint of doubt. "Touya, the only way that the badges on my back could have been your fault is if you did something to me deliberately to cause them. Ya' didn't, and I know ya'd never hurt me...the one who should take the blame is dead now and..."

Jin paused once more to take a deep breath and hold it before letting it out. He looked at Touya, with a saddened expression on the wind master's face, before removing his hand from the ice demon's cheeks. Jin then closed his eyes, put his forehead against Touya's, and placed his left hand on top of his best friend's shoulder. "Why do ya' do this to yourself? Ya' always take on so much for yourself to handle...whether it be lookin' after your well bein' or takin' care o' everyone else or doin' so much at once that it makes your head feel like explodin'.

"If ya're tryin' to show me that you are responsible and duty bound, then I hate to tell ya' this...but I have known that since the first time I met ya'. I have seen ya' worry more in the time I have known ye then most people do in five lifetimes...and so I am afraid that I have no other choice..." Jin stopped to stand up with his hands on his hips facing a perplexed ice demon. The wind master had this mischievous glint in his eye and grinned to himself, making the ice demon a little concerned.

"Ya're takin' a bath with us and that is final!" He cheerily yelled as he swooped down upon his comrade, and scooped Touya up into his arms bridal style. Before the stunned ice demon could even respond, Jin had brought him into the water, which was up to the wind master's chest as he stood on the lake floor and Touya's posterior was in the lake. At this point Touya had found the words with which to respond.

"JIN! I still have my clothes on!" Touya exclaimed, as Jin took Einin from the ice demon's arms and held her against his broad shoulder once more.

"Aw kwitcherbehlyachin'! I can just use the wind to dry 'em out, no problem! Now...have a stand with me and watch the clouds for a bit!" Jin replied as he let go of Touya's body with a splash and stared up at the sky himself.

At first Jin expected Touya to say something in an angry retort, but when the wind master heard nothing from his friend he cocked his eyebrow and looked back down to where Touya was...or at least was supposed to be. Jin had unfortunately forgotten that though the water level was up to his own chest...Touya was approximately a foot or so shorter than Jin, placing his head about inch below water level as he stood on the bottom. Jin eeped loudly as Einin giggled at the bubbles coming up from where Touya stood under the water. Jin grabbed down quickly for Touya's back and dragged him up above the water by his soaking tunic.

The red headed wind master grinned nervously and sweat dropped, as he met the face of a now speechless ice demon. Touya's eyes were very wide and his pupils constricted...well, only one pupil was constricted, since his right eye was completely covered by his matted down green bangs and his mouth was agape. The water droplets on his face dripped bit by bit into the lake, whose water level was now up to Touya's chest since he faced Jin in one of those rare moments when their heights actually matched. Jin's eyebrows knitted together as he kept the grin on his face...hoping to all that was good and merciful in the world that Touya would not decide to freeze the lake, and leave him in it. 'Why am I such a bugger?! I try to cheer him up and o' course instead I screw it up!' he thought to himself.

"Touya I am soo sorry! I just forgot how short ya' were...err...wait I mean ya're not short! Not at all! In fact ya're height is perfectly normal and really I just forgot how...tall...I was?" At this point Touya's eye, the other still covered, moved to look beyond Jin's face and the wind master thought he had really messed it up this time looking down at the water in shame.

'Oi not only did I give him more work on top o' his worryin' with the sewin', me knowin' he'd just add on even more tasks for himself to do and frazzle himself into stitches, but now I just put him into a state o' shock! He looks bloody catatonic! Jin, why are ya' so stupid?! Why don't ya' think?! Why...' Jin's self-berating was interrupted by a small "hn" coming from Touya.

"You know...you were right Jin..." The ice demon muttered, before looking quite frankly into Jin's eyes. The wind master looked completely astounded and wondered why the yelling had not yet started. 'I don't know if he's gonna bite me or bloody freeze me!' Jin thought, poising himself for either another broken nose or a very cold splash.

"...you **can** see a snowball shape," Touya then smiled warmly at his best friend and chuckled to himself, seeing that Jin raised his brows up to his hairline. 'He's gone nutso he has!' Jin thought as Touya released himself from the wind master's grip and doggy paddled toward the shore, leaving behind a very confused wind master and a very pleased infant, who thought this had been one of the most entertaining events of the day. Jin turned around to see Touya standing knee deep in the water looking back at his partner.

"See? It's a snowball," he said still smiling genuinely and pointing up to the rather circular shaped cloud off in the distant sky. Jin's face relaxed and he started laughing, 'He really is something genuine isn't he?' The wind master made his way to the shore to join Touya, who was now sitting himself down at the edge of the water.

"So you're not at all mad?!" Jin asked ever hopeful as he sat down in the sand holding the still squirming Einin to his shoulder. Touya reached over to the infant and picked her up to lay her down on his own prostrate chest as he laid half in the sand and half in the water. He wrapped his arms gently around Hikari's small frame and took in her scent before responding to his partner.

"No, you big elf...for one thing I can never stay mad at you for long, I guess I just don't have it in me. Second, you did not try to submerge me on purpose...I figured you had forgotten about how much shorter I am in comparison to your own height, I genuinely understand that you can be impulsive at times, and actually that is one of the things I like most about you. And third...well, you are darn lucky you were holding Einin otherwise I just might have let you have it good this time," Touya responded grinning to himself as his half-lidded, pale blue eyes met the clouds in the sky. Jin continued to sit cross-legged and look at Touya with a smile of his own.

"And besides..." Touya yawned as he felt the sleep inducing effects of the warm sun begin to influence his state of consciousness. "I need to learn to actually stop working for once, just sit and exist in this new life in the light...and if there is anyone up to the task of teaching me to lighten up a bit...it's you Jin..."

The ice demon then drifted off to sleep, curling to his left side and holding Einin closer in his arms as her little hands started to play with his face gently. Jin's smile broadened and he put the fingers of his right hand into Einin's, keeping her from pulling on Touya's skin so much as to make him wake up from the much-needed slumber. 'I'll do me best me friend...to help you both have the lives that you never got to have before,' Jin thought to himself as he continued to look out over the lake, watching the clouds move by and dance with each other in the wind.

TBC...hopefully you like this chapter! More soon to come. This was dedicated to my cousin who died recently in his sleep at the age of 19...I hope that he knows I love him, and hope that he has achieved his own Light. I love you B, may there be a clear blue ocean on which to sail, where ever you are.


	2. Mercy Misplaced

**Mercy Misplaced**

Touya felt a warmth that was quite unlike the day's earlier uncomfortable heat; this feeling was soothing to his body and spirit, like being wrapped in a soft towel that has recently come out of the dryer. His entire being seemed encased in an airy luminescence and all around the ice demon was pure white. The enclosure of his surroundings were condensed fog like puffs of cotton…at this point Touya realized in his mind that this was all a pleasant dream, which took him by surprise since it was not often a demon versed in the Shinobi's work found themselves in a dream without darkness.

'By the gods…I have not had a dream this gentle on my heart in ages. How I feel towards my life must be reflected in my sleep…this place is so bright and…lofty…but where am I?' Touya's dream-self thought. He wafted his hand through the materializations of his subconscious mind, only to find the fog nearly as light as air. 'I must be…in a cloud. Hm, how appropriate…I wonder if this is the same one I pointed out to Jin in the sky today…'

The ice demon's dreamland thoughts ceased as he heard a faint humming in his head, like a lullaby whose melody was actually waking him from his slumber rather than pulling him into it. Touya could swear he had heard it before, and the fact that the humming was inside his head, and coming not from his warm dreamland, proved that it originated from the waking world. Though he was soon to awaken, Touya had to admit that he did not mind leaving such pleasant warmth if it meant waking up to a heart felt melody.

With that, Touya felt his spirit fall back into its body making him wake with a jerk and widened eyes. The humming continued as Touya found himself lying on his right side facing the flames of a camp fire, soft grass beneath his body like a mat of finely woven feathers. 'Must have been what was so warm in my dream,' he thought, referring to the fire's glow. His eyes moved to the sky to find it still as cloudy as it had been that afternoon, but also studded with twinkling stars and adorned with a waning-moon shining above. The bushes and trees were like stages upon which shadows danced and played with one another, wavering in an orange light created by the winding flames.

He then shifted his gaze toward his chest to find Einin lying on her back in precious slumber. Her little right hand clutched to Touya's shirt as her other lay curled next to her head, with the ice demon's left arm lying over Einin's body protectively. Touya was then jolted from his appraisal of his surroundings by the introduction of words to the nameless humming tune…a song that Touya had heard many a time before, when Jin had thought the ice demon was sound asleep.

"Maidin moch do ghabhas amach, Ar bruach Locha Léin. An Samhradh teacht's an chraobh len'ais, Is ionrach te ón ngréin. Ar thaisteal dom trí bhailte poirt is bánta mine réidhe, Cé a gheobhainn le máis ach an chúileann deas. Le fáinne geal an lae…Oh, your awake are ye? Sorry about that…the wee lass was stirrin' like she was gonna wake up, so I thought I would sing a little song to put her back to sleep and to keep me mind focused," Jin said chuckling as he turned his head to the left to see the ice demon staring at him, when he had thought Touya to be asleep. The wind master was seated cross-legged only a foot and a half from where the ice demon lay. Touya now changed his position so that he was propped up on his right elbow and turned his head to face Jin. "And you sir must've been as tired as an old joke to 'ave been asleep for such a while! You've slept even more than Einin! Just ya'…" he was interrupted by Touya making a shhing motion with his left hand.

"Jin…keep going," the ice demon said simply enough, although Jin was perplexed.

"Keep going with what exactly?" Touya smiled knowingly before responding.

"With the song you big elf."

"But that's the end of it and…"

"Jin," Touya said. "I did not wake up from the first good dream of the last couple hundred years of my life, to have you try and tell me that the song only has two lines to it when, for all of the years I have known you, you have sung it almost every day…" Jin just looked at his partner wide eyed.

"And here all this time I thought you'd been…"

"Dead asleep to the world? You know me better than that Jin, and you know that you sing it well, so don't try to pull any modesty, it does not normally accompany your personality…go on and finish the song," Touya prodded softly with humor in his voice. Jin smiled genuinely and took a breath to continue, as he looked into the dancing flames of their small fire.

"Ní raibh bróg ná stoca, caidhp ná clóc; Ar mo stóirin óg ón spier, Ach folt fionn órga sios go troigh, Ag fás go barr an théir. Bhí calán crúite aici ina glaic, 'S ar dhrúcht ba dheas a scéimh, Do rug barr gean ar Bhéineas deas, Le fáinne geal an lae. Do shuigh an bhrideog sios le m'ais, Ar bhrinse glas den fhéar, Ag magadh léi bhios dá maiomh go pras, Mar mhnaoi nach scarfainn léi. 'S é dúirt í liomsa, 'imigh uaim, Is scaoil ar siúl mé a réic', Sin iad aneas na soilse ag teacht, Le fáinne geal an lae," Jin finished the soft, but joyous melody, and looked at Touya with a cocked eyebrow and a smirk on his face that read "happy now?", to which Touya felt obliged to respond.

"Thank you Jin for indulging this ice pixie…I never asked you before but where did you learn that anyway?" the ice demon asked as the wind master picked up an unidentified bundle from his lap.

"Well, for one thing, ya' wouldn'a asked about the song if ya' were tryin' to hide the fact that ya' were droppin' eaves on me so bloody often…I'll hafta keep more than one ear on ya' from now on. Oh yeah…uh, I learnt it from me mother. She used to sing that tune when she was at her needlework or cookin' a meal for us," Jin replied. He was about to continue explaining more about the song, and what the words translated into, until he saw Touya quirk a brow and an inquisitive pair of eyes, at what Jin held in his hands.

"What are you doing over there?" Touya asked honestly unaware of what Jin had been doing while he was fast asleep. Jin rubbed the back of his head before explaining and considered hiding it behind his back…but Touya did not give him the chance, and instead reached for Jin's lap and pulled up the cloth bundle that had been there. The ice demon examined it and held it up to the fire's light, to see better, as he sat up. While Touya was busy scrutinizing what he was having trouble seeing, Jin picked up the still sleeping Einin to rock her gently in his arms, humming quietly in the back of his throat. Once Touya got just enough light from the fire to illuminate the bundle, his eyes widened and he looked at Jin with an expression the wind master had never seen directed at himself before.

"Did you…MAKE this?" Touya asked, holding up what could now be identified as a shirt. Jin grinned a little embarrassed at the attention he was getting over such a small task. Despite his flamboyant nature and audience drawing shenanigans, Jin was not one used to constructive praise over actual skills or talents; though from time to time complimented on his ability to finish a bottle of Makai whiskey by himself, he had never heard a truly kind word when it came to something he was proud of…though if anyone were to utter such a word, Jin expected it would be Touya.

"Yeah, uh…well, it's just a small thing and not done just yet. I was close to finishin' it when I started hummin' to you and Einin! And…well, ya' were so tired and all…and I knew that if ya' didn't get all o' your sewin' done then ya' would've had a migraine or felt somethin' awful so…I finished the sewin' for ya'," Jin said before reaching one handed behind his back to bring out a small handful of infant sized clothes. Touya scooted closer to Jin placing the unfinished garment in his own lap before sifting through the clothes and marveling at their quality, until he noticed an article missing.

"Wait…Jin, where is your cloak?" he asked.

"Oh, that old thing? Well…don'a be mad or anythin'…cause I know ya' donated your own cloak to make somethin' for Einin…but I thought it would serve the both of us better if I made mine into a blanket and so…" he paused to reach behind his back once more. "…here it is!" The wind master had done an excellent job of making the hood and extra folds of cloth into one cohesive sheet, which would serve them nicely if a cold front ever did settle in the Southern Makai. "I know ya' told me to keep it for me self…but after all that's been done for me, I figured why be selfish with it when ya' gave up your own cloak ya' know? So all o' the cloth you bought is now sewn together…I hope I did it all right…surprised, eh?!" Touya just kept holding gingerly onto the recently made garments, in wonder at the care with which they were made.

"You…did all this? It must have taken you half the day," Touya breathed as he went through the whole pile to look at each one. Jin's ears perked up into points.

"Actually, it didn'a take me long at all! Once your pretty little head went to dreamland I carried ya' out of the water, since I figured ya' don't like bein' a prune, and set ya' down here…ya' were so tired ya' never moved once! Anyways, then I gave Einin a bath…a REAL bath as ya' said, with that soap and water and the lot of it. We both smell better now!" Jin beamed proudly taking a fresh whiff of the air around them. "I hafta tell ya' me friend ya' were right! This soap IS better than the ones we got back at headquarters that were made out of those rat thingies! Oh yeah…I also fed Einin the rest of her meals for the day, changed her, quite a few times I might add, and caught a bit o' fish from the lake for us to eat…I don'a think I did so bad cookin' it, haven't died yet! Which reminds me, yours be still keepin' warm by the fire! Well, what are ya' sittin' there for with googlie eyes?! Dig into the meat before it grows legs and walks off singin' a happier tune than I was!"

Touya had picked up Jin's hand-made blanket while the wind master had been prattling on about his activities for the day…and the ice demon did not know what to say. He looked over at the single fish on a large leaf, serving as a plate, and it indeed smelled freshly cooked.

"Well…what's wrong?" Jin asked noticing Touya had not yet said anything more. "Do ya' not like the smell?" The ice demon was quick to reassure.

"Oh no Jin! I just…" Touya stopped unsure of himself. "What did I do to…warrant this?" Jin made a squinchy face at this question and his eyes crossed briefly in confusion.

"Warrant what?"

"I mean…you really didn't have to do this…I could have at least helped you instead of leaving it all on your shoulders and…" Touya stopped abruptly at finding nose meeting his own quite unexpectedly. Jin had leaned forward to put his nose right smack on Touya's squishing it slightly in the process. Touya in turn had begun to blush from head to shoulders. 'What is he doing?!' Touya thought frantically looking directly into Jin's eyes.

"You be doin' it again…" Touya quirked his brows and hoped that the blush had not spread further, but one quick glance at his hands told him otherwise.

"Doing…what pray tell?" The ice demon asked half hoping Jin would move his face away…but also half hoping he would keep it there.

"Ya' be takin' on too much and pretendin' that it don'a bother ya' in the slightest. Don'a do that to yourself anymore…I'll be better from this moment on, I promise ya' that," Jin said honestly as he pulled his face away with a grin. Touya's blush began to diminish as he waited for Jin to continue.

"Do ya' remember…when ya' chose my side o'er Reisho's back in the caves? Well, that showed ya' had faith in both our abilities to carry on and raise Einin...che, that ya' actually believed I could do what I said I was gonna when I got all excited about the idea of takin' care o' her. It may've taken me a few more days to realize this, and I be sorry for it, but I can'a be pushin' all o' OUR tasks onto ya' like I used to…cause that is exactly what they are, OUR responsibilities.

"As much as ya' try to make all of the extra load ya' put on your shoulder seem light as a feather to me, I know that it would be even more so if I bloody pitched in to help ya'…but ya' would never admit to needin' the help in the first place, especially from your best friend." Touya just sat and stared, not blankly, but as if he had so many different thoughts, and emotions coursing through him that none managed to dominate over the others. "That's somethin' else you were afraid of…wasn't it?"

The ice demon refocused his gaze to see Jin's slightly saddened but still thoughtful face. To those outside of their little band of journeymen, it would seem that Jin was unaware of how much the ice demon took on for himself to handle. However, Jin was quite vigilant when it came to his friend's well being, and half of his shenanigans were directed toward giving Touya a time to get his mind off of being the one in charge.

"What?" Touya uttered in a raspy voice, as if he was trying to clear his throat. Jin scooted closer to the ice demon, still holding Einin in a cradled position.

"Ya' mentioned that ya' were apprehensive, back in the caves when we faced Reisho for the last time. With as long as I have known ya', I think you were afraid not of the responsibilities…but…of failin'," Jin stopped when he noticed Touya's hands clench slightly in a twitch and his jaw set firmer, tense from some invisible pressure. "And in your mind, me friend…any kind of failure doesn't mean ya' pick it up another day with a fresh start…to you…it's always meant, at least as long as I have been with ya', that ya' were…weak. And if others saw what ya' thought to be weakness…then it meant ya' got walked on…like with Reisho. It would also mean, in your mind, that you'd let down so many others. Ya' seem to have this idea in your pretty blue head…that ya' have this balancin' board on your back with all of your responsibilities stacked on top, and that if ya' can't carry it by yourself then ya've failed. Ya' put too much on that board and I know that I am on it…so is Einin. I guess what I'm tryin' to say really is…" Jin paused, drawing his finger through the dirt thoughtfully before looking back up at Touya's intent gaze.

"It's alright…ya' can be weak sometimes…ya' can be afraid of failin', cause it just means that what your worryin' about is something' ya' care for…ya' can just take a moment to stop…don'a be afraid o' lettin' me down. The world will not fall apart if Touya the Ice Demon shares his load with Jin the Wind Master," the wind master said, just as Touya opened his mouth to speak.

"But…what if…what if I fail," the ice demon managed to stutter out as if he was afraid of such a possibility. "What if I cannot make this work…this is different from before Jin, it's not some mission where failure meant a dock in pay. This is…our lives and her life…"

"There ya' go again…you're not alone Touya, I'm here too. What's happened every time I've failed? Either failed you or myself? Ya've been there to help me…and so I'll be there for ya'. Just because we're not in the Shinobi anymore, don'a mean that we stopped bein' partners. If ya' can show your weaknesses…your needs…to anyone, it's me! That's what bein' partners is about…and now more than ever, I'll tell ya' what I need. What I need from ya' is to give me some of that load; exactly half to be more precise. And when your side gets ya' down even a wee bit…I'll take more of that sack o' potatoes, and I don'a think I even hafta ask if ya'll do right by me in the same respects," Jin smiled and clasped Touya's shoulder.

Touya smiled nervously, for he felt his entire inner self exposed to the elements. Jin had a way of being blunt without brutality, and of speaking truthfully with an insight few believed he possessed. "As long as we watch out for each other and be ready to take the reins when one o' us knows the other has a…er, hand cramp, then it'll be alright to be weak sometimes and strong other times! After all, we're only demons!"

Touya sweat dropped before pondering Jin's speech. He brushed his fingers through Einin's hair as Jin let the ice demon's shoulder go, to hold her out closer to Touya. Touya then quirked an eyebrow and looking at the, miraculously, still sleeping babe, with a soft smile on his countenance.

"Hm, so you think we should be equal partners," Touya offered still looking off to the side. Jin began nodding furiously as his ears pointed out, twitching steadily.

"Yup! That is one thing I know I won't let ya' down about! I'll always be with ya' to share the weight!"

"Equals both in taking care of Einin, each other, and anything else that falls in our path…" the ice demon continued as he took the blanket Jin had made and wrapped around himself, though not to protect his skin from the cold but to simply feel something else besides the night air; the physical touch of the soft material reminding him of where he was, and with whom.

"Right on the mark!"

"…like a family would do…" Touya offered as he looked back up into Jin's eyes to gauge his reaction. The wind master's face held an ecstatic joy, and his ears wiggled back and forth at the prospect.

"Well o' course…aren't we already?" Touya was taken aback by this particular response, for he had never considered their rather unorthodox partnership as being a family dynamic.

"That's just the thing Jin…" the ice demon continued looking back to the grassy earth. "I have…come from a home where my father was not there, for ice demons are wont to leave a mate after only a few months. With an experience like that…what can someone like me even offer to…a family?" Jin had a funny look on his face and dipped his head lower so that Touya was looking down on him.

"Well, if that's not the biggest load o' rubbish! It's like sayin' someone from a home with both responsible parents, 2.5 kids, a dog, and even a freakin' kitty, would not know how to be a bad parent! Have ya' ever considered that ya' learned from your father's mistakes instead of repeatin' 'em? I mean…we're not exactly…er, mates or anythin' but the principle be the same. Ya' haven't left yet even though ya' said ya' had doubts. And I bloody well know that there be no such thin' as a professional parent! If ya' don'a know what's goin' on, then I think it makes ya' more of a parent than those buggers who insist that they know it all, cause ya' admit that ya' be learnin'! Besides…ya' had one parent for your whole childhood right? And look how ya' turned out, Mister I-know-which-soap-is-better-than-rat-skin!" Touya grinned at the last comment and at how odd Jin looked craning his neck to see Touya's face. "So like I said a bazillion years ago…eat your fish! I spent o'er an hour on just pickin' the scales off o' yours cause I know ya' hate 'em!" Jin finished sitting back up at his original height. As Touya took his fish from the leaf near the fire he looked at Jin with a sweat drop.

"What? Did I grow another horn or somethin'?" Jin asked reaching up to feel his lone horn on his head.

"Uh no…but you do know that you scale a fish by moving a knife against the scales and not by…uh plucking them?" Touya asked finally digging into his fish, which did taste as good as it smelled. Jin's face vaulted and his eyes crossed together. Then his countenance launched into comprehension and a grin spread over his mouth.

"OOOOH! That does make more sense! See! Ya' live and ya' learn!" Jin exclaimed while Touya finished his half of Jin's catch for the day. It surprised even himself when he yawned tiredly, for he had been sleeping for most of the day and night.

"Tired eh? Go on and lie down again with her…I just need to finish a stitch or two more on this thing," Jin insisted as he handed Einin over to Touya. The ice demon yawned again taking Jin's advice and lying down this time head toward the fire so he could still talk to Jin, who was now picking up his sewing to finish the last shirt.

"How is it you think she slept through our entire conversation?" Touya asked as he brushed a finger over her nose. Jin grinned at this as he stitched his last for the journey, and put the pile of clothes inside a small satchel they had been using to carry food in.

"Oi she had a full day of watchin' clouds, bathin' twice, and watchin' me work these fingers o' mine. I imagine anyone would be tired (yawn) after a day like that," Jin responded lying down parallel to Touya bringing Einin closer to his body. The fire went out with a poof from the wind master, and Touya brought the recently made blanket over the both of them and Einin.

"Even you right?" Touya said chuckling. "Jin…do you really think that I…could be a good…" the ice demon's question was interrupted by a loud snore eight inches from his own face. Touya grimaced and sweat dropped before lying his own head back down on the grass. '…father?' Touya finished in his mind, though still unsure of the answer. He did not have time to think more upon it as sleep over took him, to the rhythmic sound of his partner's heavy breathing.

………………………………………………………………………………

All around was a thick darkness, a place where light could not penetrate. It felt stifling and yet not warm at all but bitterly cold, like lying upon a block of ice until the freezing feeling became a burning sensation. His limbs could still move freely save for the mild resistance, but the piercing temperature made him feel light headed. At this moment the wind master realized that he was under water. He frantically flailed his arms trying to find the surface, as the air stored in his lungs was quickly being absorbed so that he could move. As one hand moved outward it made contact with a breeze and Jin knew he had found the surface. He pulled himself up through the water awkwardly as numbness began to over take him. His outward hand then made contact with a slimy rock ledge and he quickly pulled himself up, sputtering as his head met the cold air. His lungs struggled for air as the cold restricted his breathing, his heaving body now pulled on top of the ledge to lie down with a wet thud and take stock of his surroundings.

There was a single blue tinted light shining in the distance on the rock face of a wall, and in an instant Jin recognized the natural formations he had grown so used to dwelling in for hundreds of years. 'It's a cave,' he thought drawing himself up to sit. The light's rays shone over the slick surfaces of the cave grotto. Over half of the chamber was submerged in the nearly arctic waters and the rest of the floor was a smooth rock face that sloped downward to the watery depths. The chamber was small, with a diameter of about twenty feet all around and the ceiling was quite low to the point where Jin's head would only have been two feet away…if he had felt any looseness come back to his legs to allow him to stand.

'Where am I? How in the Makai did I get here?' he asked himself trying to rub his legs to get some feeling back in them, for they were beginning to sting. The wind master then ceased his ministrations when he heard some voices echoing down a corridor not far from where he was. The voices were too close and Jin braced himself for being found out, ready to use his powers if need be. But when four figures entered the grotto…none took any notice of the wind master, and it was as if they were peering directly through him making him shiver even more. 'They don'a see me! This must be some kind o' sick joke…or a dream…' Jin's thoughts were abruptly stopped when the figures became more visible under the shine of two torchlights. The wind master's jaw dropped and his pupils constricted slightly. These figures were cloaked in indigo fabrics with large stylized hoods to hide their faces from sight, each hood adorned by an embroidered symbol where the opening for the face should have been but was missing…they were Shinobi!

'Gods! They even where their cloaks down 'ere! Wait a gol-durn minute! This must be…one o' the Northern sects! The one Touya's been leadin' us away from!' Jin realized as he tried to move closer to the group to get a better idea of what was transpiring. His teeth clenched in anger the second the light hit a familiar face.

'Biggie!' Low and behold, Bakken was kneeling before one of the Shinobi, presumably the master of this sect with his two subordinates standing in attention behind the brown-faced Shinobi.

"Are you absolutely positive that the renegades escaped to the South and did not perish rightfully in the ravine you so diligently described?" asked the deepened voice of a female, supposedly the sect leader. Jin's eye widened and his brows drew together enraged.

'That fuckin' bugger's peachin' on us…and it's all my fault. I should'a crushed all o' 'is bones when I had the chance…why did I pick that time to let 'im go?! Why out of all the times he's hurt us…why did I let 'im go when it mattered most?!'

"Yes mistress…un, of that I'm sure. I saw them heading off together from my place in the woods, and thus felt it my duty to go and inform you as to what was…" Bakken's explanation was cut short by a claw like hand snatching outward to grab his neck. Bakken's body was still covered in blood and dirt from his encounter with Jin, and now it was trembling trying to breath past the clenching claw of the female.

"If you were in the forest close by, why did you not attack them at their weakest and end this foul business of treachery at the source?" she asked, her voice not moving above its original tone. Bakken was unable to answer her and instead continued to sputter and wheeze as blood spouted slowly from recently punctured holes in his neck. "What honor is there in letting rebels escape into the light? They should have known their place…" she paused and released Bakken's neck. Jin could see relief in his eyes…until the woman reached back swiftly and delivered sickening snap, twisting Bakken's head 180 degrees. "…and now you know yours."

She released Bakken's backward skull and let the body fall sideways to the ground. One of the subordinate Shinobi pushed Bakken's body with a foot, grunting slightly in disgust. The large corpse slid down the slick ground and made contact with the water, barely an inch from where Jin still sat shivering. Jin's eyes were wide and he watched as the body floated for a moment then promptly sank into the unfathomable depths. 'If any demon were a devil…it would be her…' Jin's breathing had become more labored due both to the cold and to the recent shock of seeing Bakken's back…and face at the same time. There was a silence as the leader seemed to pore over the information Bakken had given her. She then raised her hand upward and drew a claw over the cave walls bringing forth a piercing sound that gave Jin's goose bumps…well, goose bumps.

"Khan," she uttered flatly. The taller of the two subordinates sank to his knees and bowed his head, ready for the orders. "Go alone and find these renegades. Do not bother to bring them back here…kill them, but at the least let them know why they have been sentenced to death by the Shinobi clans. I have already made contact with the others and our sect has been permitted the first strike…preferably the only strike. Do you understand what I am saying?" The Shinobi then stood to his fullest with his head still bowed. He gave an affirmative nod before turning away toward the exit. 'Gods…they're all after us?! They've divvied up the task of killin' us like some game!' Jin gritted his teeth, the moisture in his eyes now frozen and closed shut. 'I wish this nightmare would bloody end!'

"Oh and Khan?" the leader beckoned just as the Shinobi was about to leave. He stopped short and turned slightly back. "When you find the infant…" Jin's ears perked and his mouth opened wide despite being chapped; he was desperately trying to open his eyes now. "…bring her back here alive. It has been so long since we had warm meat brought to our table." At this Jin found a voice and screamed a negative loudly in his dream. He felt his body being flung backwards into the cold depths again and after such a profound scream he ran out of air…

At this Jin burst from his unconscious mind into wakefulness, his eyes flung wide open staring ahead. Despite the freezing cold temperature of the dream his body was covered in sweat, and he felt even stickier as he took deep breaths to steady himself. It took him another half second to realize he was looking straight into the equally wide eyes of the ice demon lying across from him. Touya breathed heavily as well, but seemed comforted by the fact that his hand lay lightly on Hikari's sleeping form.

"You saw it too?" the ice demon asked in a whisper, as if wishing it had been something of his own imagination. Jin swallowed slowly and nodded still looking into Touya's eyes.

"They are after us," Touya said. Jin nodded numbly again his breathing now returned to normal. "We have to keep going and find somewhere to hide…someone we can trust." Jin nodded gravely one last time before shifting his gaze to Touya's hip. After refocusing his eyes the wind demon pulled back in surprise as he looked at his own hands.

"What?" Touya asked.

"Uhh…Touya, if me hands be here and yours be there…then whose hand be that?" Jin asked innocently pointing at Touya's pelvis. The ice demon furrowed his brow and looked to his own hip before stiffening his body in fear. Wrapped around his hip and settled on his lower abdomen was a large tanned hand…which was in turn attached to a large tanned arm…which would logically lead to a large brown…As Touya's logic broke down the situation the owner of said arm and said hand groaned. At this Touya took no time to think but instead reacted in the only manner he knew how. He screamed.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH," the ice screamed as he rolled over on his side quickly and pushed the figure away while at the same time encasing the stranger's body in a miniature iceberg. The yelling stopped and in only two seconds both former Shinobi were on their feet ready to attack. Jin had grabbed Einin the second Touya had turned his back, and placed her inside the folds of his tunic. As the mist of small ice particles cleared one could see a long trail of frosted grass where the iceberg had slid into a tree. Touya cautiously went up to the tree with Jin on his tail. By the time they both reached the iceberg and saw the body encased inside it took all of Jin's strength…to keep from laughing!

"Ppfffff…gchhhhh…bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Jin started bawling with laughter and his eyes teared up at the sight before them. This bellowing in turn woke up Einin who began to whimper, before she too caught glimpse of the person in the ice and cooed in wonder rather than getting upset after being woken so abruptly. Touya blinked many times, sweat dropped, and sighed heavily. Encased within the iceberg, frozen in a position of intense surprise, with possibly the most vacant expression Touya had ever encountered since that of Bakken's…was the drunken fighter himself! The ice demon brought his right hand to his brow and rubbed his temples in frustration, before looking up imploringly to the gods in the heavens, 'Why HIM?! When I said we needed to find someone we could trust…did you have to send CHUU?!'

TBC…..gomen about being soooo late in updating but crazy school stuff called me…..but don't worry I have until story four planned out! More to come soon….sorry if you don't like Chuu or some other related characters…..but I find nothing funny without them! HD


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